Swallowable capsule endoscopes are well-known devices that are used in order to acquire images of in-vivo lumens, e.g., the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Nowadays, there is an on going need for adding maneuvering capabilities to such capsules and to other in-vivo devices, and thus have the ability to perform various in-vivo operations at specific locations along the lumen that such devices travel along. One method of maneuvering an in-vivo device while in-vivo, is to use external magnetic fields, which may surround the patient being treated by the in-vivo device, and may control the location of the in-vivo device.
The external magnetic fields may also assist in determining location and orientation of the in-vivo device along in-vivo lumens. In order to determine the location and orientation of the device, e.g., a capsule endoscope device, the device may include sensing coils to sense the magnetic fields. The location and orientation of the device may then be calculated based on the strength of the sensed fields. However, such a method requires complex processing to be done inside the in-vivo device. Furthermore, determining location and orientation based on the external magnetic fields, as well as maneuvering the device using the same magnetic fields may create an overload on the external magnetic system.
Therefore, there is a need for a different system and method for determining location (and orientation) of an in-vivo device, e.g., a swallowable capsule, that is not dependent on the same magnetic forces that are used to maneuver the device in-vivo.